Renault India to ramp up production of Kwid by 50% in 3-6 months

Several vendors associated with Renault India said the company will be increasing the capacity to 8,000- 10,000 units a month by February-March from the current 5,000-6,000 units.Ketan Thakkar | ET Bureau | Updated: December 15, 2015, 12:27 IST

MUMBAI: French car maker Renault India, which got off to a good start with the Kwid compact car, is ramping up production by 50% in 3-6 months to meet the growing demand.

Several vendors associated with Renault India said the company will be increasing the capacity to 8,000- 10,000 units a month by February-March from the current 5,000-6,000 units.

"This is an immediate ramp-up plan. With more vehicles getting made, this can increase with higher jobs per hour, so the company is working overtime with its vendors to meet the demand," said one of the three people aware of the matter.

"Kwid has been a great success and we are ramping the capacity to meet demand. With 98% local content, we along with our vendors, are cranking up on volumes. Chennai rains was a dampener, but we are working overtime to meet the demand," said Sawhney.

Launched in September, Kwid has already got bookings of 75,000 units, which was not even the annual plan for Renault. The annual sales is likely to cross 1 lakh units in 2016 if the momentum continues, said people familiar with the development.

Renault India, which sprung back into reckoning with the Duster sports utility vehicle three years ago, saw volumes dip as the novelty factor of Duster began to wear out. Though the multi-purpose vehicle Lodgy started on a weak note, 10,000 to 15,000 units of Kwid will help Renault cross the 50,000-units mark in 2015.

In a market which is likely to grow 8.5%, Renault India is likely to grow at double the pace at 15-16% to about 52,000 to 53,000 units. Renault is likely to end this year as the largest selling European brand in India, becoming the 8th largest car maker in the country.

Renault India is working towards a plan which will more than double its volumes in 2016. With the production getting ramped up, Kwid is likely to dislodge Hyundai Motor India’s Eon as the second largest entry level car space shortly.

Renault is likely to sustain the heat on Alto with a 1 liter version of Kwid in later half of 2016 and may come with the automated manual transmission to challenge Alto K10.

Sawhney is non-committal on the future products but said the Kwid has already had a positive rub off on the existing portfolio with the higher output of Kwid, the company is gearing up for its best year in 2016.

What is interesting is, even though there is a significant waiting period, the company has not altered its exports strategy, the exports to the neighbouring SAARC countries is likely to begin in the second half of 2016.